Discover the fascinating world of genetic genealogy! Written for the non-scientist, YGG is the best source for unbiased news on the major genealogy DNA testing companies.
Written by CeCe Moore, an independent professional genetic genealogist and television consultant.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

As the season draws to a close, join us for one last celebration with our End of Summer Y-DNA Sale! Customers can order a Y-DNA test and join the world's largest Y-DNA database today. All Y-DNA tests and upgrades have been marked down for significant savings!Time is limited. The sale ends 9/3/2014. As an added bonus, Big Y is also on sale for just $495. Big Y coupons acquired during the Father's Day Sale can be used on Big Y orders placed during the End of Summer Sale. With Big Y, 340,000 years of Y-DNA ancestry is just a test away!

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

The following is a guest post by Angie Bush, my partner in The DNA Detectives:

Today, I received in my email inbox a questionnaire from Ancestry.com
asking about my thoughts in using my family tree to study family health
history. I recently wrote an article that touched on the use of
genealogical data in conjunction with genetic studies for the APG
Quarterly. In this article, I talked about how the Utah Population
database was started as the result of a joint collaboration between the
LDS Church and scientists at the University of Utah. This database is
unique in that it links detailed family history information with genetic
data to allow scientists to study the inheritance of many diseases.
Many significant genetic discoveries have been made as a result of this
database, including the famous (or infamous) BRCA1 and 2 genes. It is a
significant resource for those interested in studying the inheritance of
genetic disease. More about the Utah Population Database and the role
of genealogical information can be found
here: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/science/utah/Just as in
genealogical research, DNA is of little value without a paper trail.
Significant value and power lies in combining detailed family health
histories with genetic data. In my opinion, 23andMe has missed a
significant opportunity to link family histories with genetic data and make
ground-breaking discoveries. From this survey, it appears that
Ancestry.com/AncestryDNA recognizes the value of this information and
that they may be considering getting into the business of supplying
their customers with heath related information the way 23andMe did prior
to November 2013. It would appear that they are constructing a database
very similar to the Utah Population Database with SNP data generated
from the Illumina Chip they currently use.

I have a few questions about this:

Will
AncestryDNA now be subject to the same FDA guidelines that are
currently prohibiting health information from 23andMe, and if so, will Ancestry
join the effort with 23andMe to allow this type of information to be
provided to consumers?

Or, will they ride 23andMe's coat-tails into the health side of the personal genomics market? Will Ancestry re-sell
this data to large pharmaceutical companies?

How can we participate in
this research, and should we as customers be participating?

There are
many other questions I could ask, and in the end, I do believe that
health care needs a serious overhaul and the revolution that Anne Wojcicki
started with 23andMe cannot be stopped now. I believe one of the best
ways to revolutionize health care is to understand what our individual genetic code is telling us about future disease risk, how to manage
that risk and prevent disease if possible. It appears from the questions
on the Ancestry survey, that they recognize the power of this
information as well, and that they plan to move into the space currently occupied only by 23andMe.

Screen shots of the email and survey follow:

Thanks to Angie for sharing this update and important information with my readers!

Saturday, August 2, 2014

A quick reminder about the upcoming i4gg.org conference

(a not-for-profit event).

This is truly a unique opportunity to personally meet with - and learn from - some of the world's leading Genetic Genealogy experts who, for the first time ever, will appear under ONE roof at the first International Genetic Genealogy Conference scheduled for Friday, August 15th through August 17th.

MEET THESE WORLD RENOWNED GENETIC GENEALOGY EXPERTS:

Dr. Spencer Wells - The Genographic Project (keynote)

Joanna Mountain - 23andMe

Julie Granka - AncestryDNARazib Khan for Family Tree DNA

Judy Russell

David Pike

CeCe Moore

Maurice Gleeson

Tim Janzen

Jim Bartlett

Terry Barton

Blaine Bettinger

Angie Bush

Rebekah Canada

Shannon Christmas

Karin Corbeil

Diane Herman Hoog

Katherine Hope Borges

Bill Hurst

Kathy Johnston

Thomas Krahn

Greg Magoon

Doug McDonald

Ugo Perego

Bonnie Schrack

Larry Vick

Rob Warthen

Debbie Parker Wayne

William Howard

The fabulous Judy Russell, Julie Granka, Greg Magoon, William Howard and Razib Khan were all added to the schedule since I last wrote about the conference.

Take a minute to check out this video for a quick overview:

There is something for everyone - all levels of experience are encouraged to attend. Expert or novice - you'll take away a world of knowledge from the i4gg.org International Genetic Genealogy Conference August 15-17 at the National Youth Conference Center in Washington DC!

Don't miss this opportunity to learn from the best! Go to i4gg.org and register today - there are still tickets available.

Sponsored by the Institute for Genetic Genealogy. THIS IS A NOT-FOR-PROFIT EVENT for the advancement of genetic genealogy.